The Blacks fell 0-19 to the high-flying Wagga team in a fiesty affair at Exies Oval on Saturday.

The reigning premiers entered the game with an average winning margin of 52 points but came across a much tougher task than usual on Saturday - in the shape of a resilient Blacks side on a winning streak of their own.

The two sides showed off their intent in the opening minutes, trading big hits in the middle of the park as they looked to gain control of the game.

After a start to the match largely dominated by Wagga City, Griffith looked to have broken through for the opening try when Mitieli Ratumaitavuki made his way past the try line, but the play was pulled back for a forward pass as he grounded the ball.

City then ramped up the pressure and 18 minutes into the match Jone Kurusiga found a pocket of space on the right-hand side of the Blacks defense and opened the scoring.

The game went back and forth for the next 20 minutes and the sides went into half-time with Wagga leading 7-0.

Wagga came out of the gates red hot and just five minutes into the second half the undefeated side made the most of a period of sustained pressure and pushed through for another try on the left wing.

But Griffith had a point to prove, and for the next ten minutes they put together their strongest period of the match, coming close multiple times to breaking through a stalwart Wagga defensive line.

But all hopes of a late fight back were essentially dashed when, with 17 minutes left, Rory Sheard pushed through traffic in the Blacks defensive third to make it 19-0 to the reigning premiers.

A late surge from the Blacks, including Daniel Bozic dancing past 5 Wagga player but being brought down just before the try line, wasn't enough as the City side fought hard to keep their clean sheet.

Speaking after the game, Griffith coach Chris McGregor said he was proud of the effort shown by his side despite the loss.

"I'm proud of the boys. [Wagga CIty] are the benchmark of the competition and they probably had the ball for 70 or 80 per cent of the game," McGregor said.

"City hasn't been pushed this year and they knew they were in for a game of foory today and that's exactly what they got."

McGregor said the effort shown by his side was the major positive of the night.

"The effort was the main thing," he said.

"The last couple of weeks we've been winning but it's been ugly. Today we lost but the effort was there."

James Kanaley was the player's player for the Griffith side.

The Griffith Blacks have a bye next weekend.

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